March Mysteries

 

The Riviera Express (#1 of A Miss Dimont Mystery)

Author: TP Fielden

Genre: Mystery

Page number: 364

First published: 2017

Rating: 4 stars

First sentence: When Miss Dimont smiled, which she did a lot, she was beautiful.

One sentence comment: The author’s humorous language make the story a real fun. 

MM book picking is such a fun game! I played the game right away after I watched Janelle’s video. I have got blue - setting, yellow – travelling, yellow – cover, and green. I happen to have some green-cover mysteries on my TBR, and one of them I know it definitely fit: The Riviera Express by TP Fielden.

 The Riviera Express is about life at the local paper in a small tourist town of Britain in the 50's. I enjoy reading the delightful characters and the author's delicate language. The way the author describes the main characters makes them, good or bad guyes, all attractive. The daily work of a local paper at the time came at me vividly, including attending the court, announcing the local affairs in the paper, and reporting the local events. The tension between workers and the boss and between colleagues is part of the fun, too.

Wicked Autumn

Author: G. M. Malliet

Genre: mystery

Page number: 297

Rating: 3 stars

First sentence: Wanda Batton-Smythe, head of the Women’s Institute of Nether Monkslip, liked to say she was not one to mince words.

One sentence comment: All the characters sound fake to me so the plot cannot get better.

 

It is unusual to read a small village mystery set in the early twenty first century but the life stays the same as in the 50’s except the internet. Woman Institute is still working and people car about the Anglican priest. Perhaps this kind of village life is a modern heaven.

When Gods Die (#2 of A Sabastian St. Cyre Mystery)

Author: C. S. Harris

Genre: mystery

Page number: 379

Rating: 5 stars

First sentence: He knew she’d come to him.

One sentence comment: It’s fabulous to read about how Harris describes buffoons.

 

The book has an enticing opening as the murder happens in the Pavilion of the Prince Regent. I have read that Jane Austen was invited to the Pavilion by the Regent’s secretary and was suggested to write a book about the Regent. Of course Austen rejected the idea politely. The news was later leaked and it became another scandal of the Regent.

 When Gods Die, the second in the Sabastian St. Cyre series, is marvelous from the beginning to the end. My favorite characters in the series are honest majestrate Sir Henry Livejoy, morally compromised Lord Harvis, and his idealistic daughter, Hero. Hopefully Hero will soon take a major role in subsequent books. Harris gives these people flash and bone to make them realistic and representative, bringing out historical accounts in the early 19th century.Harris achieves pinnacles in describing mentality of bafoons.

 My only critical comment is, Sabastian's love obsession is annoying and superfluous.  Like Lovejoy said, "he never makes to his own bed." The problem with his affairs with an actress is that the English version of The Lady of the Camillias cannot move the readers in the 21st century.